{"id":435005,"date":"2025-09-19T02:15:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T02:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/435005\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T02:15:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T02:15:14","slug":"israel-readies-furious-response-to-macrons-palestinian-statehood-push-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/435005\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel readies furious response to Macron\u2019s Palestinian statehood push \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe initiative was created and advanced by the French president, and it\u2019s why the main reaction will be vis-\u00e0-vis France and not other countries,\u201d said Hen Feder, the spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>The statehood push from Macron coincides with efforts by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to increase pressure on Israel over Gaza. The Commission on Wednesday unveiled plans for unprecedented tariffs and sanctions targeting Israel over findings of human rights violations in Gaza,  prompting an angry response from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar, who accused von der Leyen of \u201cempowering terrorist groups\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/eu-unveils-plans-hit-israel-with-tariffs-sanctions-amid-gaza-war-outcry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in a letter obtained by POLITICO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Israel and the United States have repeatedly argued that recognizing a Palestinian state has the same effect \u2014 it rewards the militant group Hamas, which was largely responsible for the Oct. 7 terror attack that sparked the current crisis, and undermines negotiations to obtain the release of Israeli hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1741688622-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7186662\"  \/>Netanyahu sent a letter to Macron that was made public, accusing him of pouring fuel on an \u201cantisemitic fire\u201d with his plan to recognize a Palestinian state.  | Christophe Ena\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Relations between Israel and France, which is home to Europe\u2019s largest Jewish and Muslim populations, have been made more complicated by the personal antagonism between Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have had some very public clashes.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu sent a letter to Macron <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-france-palestine-letter-diplomacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that was made public<\/a>, accusing him of pouring fuel on an \u201cantisemitic fire\u201d with his plan to recognize a Palestinian state. Macron forcefully rebutted those accusations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/emmanuel-macron-benjamin-netanyahu-antisemitism-critism-israel-gaza-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in his own correspondence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Antisemitic attacks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vie-publique.fr\/en-bref\/298423-antisemitisme-en-france-une-situation-alarmante\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">have increased in France<\/a> in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel, but no hard numbers have been made public to back up the assertion by Netanyahu or U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner that such incidents have increased since Macron unveiled his recognition plan. Kushner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/france-summons-us-ambassador-charles-kushner-antisemitism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was summoned<\/a> by the French foreign ministry over his comments.<\/p>\n<p>Paris, meanwhile, is preparing a range of possible retaliation moves to Israel, according to a French diplomat. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lefigaro.fr\/international\/avertissements-menaces-le-bras-de-fer-s-intensifie-entre-israel-et-la-france-avant-une-reconnaissance-de-la-palestine-20250908\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the French daily Le Figaro<\/a>, the options include closing an Israeli consulate in France<strong> <\/strong>and expelling Israeli spies operating in France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe initiative was created and advanced by the French president, and it\u2019s why the main reaction will be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[26388,186,6505,943,5293,34,2000,299,36,774,837,1815,7163,2597,809,6860,2663,811,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-435005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-antisemitism","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-diplomacy","13":"tag-emmanuel-macron","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-france","17":"tag-iran","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-israel-hamas-war","20":"tag-israeli-palestinian-conflict","21":"tag-military","22":"tag-negotiations","23":"tag-qatar","24":"tag-sanctions","25":"tag-security","26":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115228555688428810","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}